As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise.
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings―asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass―offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
Contents: Planting Sweetgrass Skywoman Falling The Council of Pecans The Gift of Strawberries An Offering Asters and Goldenrod Learning the Grammar of Animacy Tending Sweetgrass Maple Sugar Moon Witch Hazel A Mother's Work The Consolation of Water Lilies Allegiance to Gratitude Picking Sweetgrass Epiphany in the Beans The Three Sisters Wisgaak Gok penagen: A Black Ash Basket Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass Maple Nation: A Citizenship Guide The Honorable Harvest Braiding Sweetgrass In the Footsteps of Nanabozho The Sound of Silverbells Sitting in a Circle Burning Cascade Head Putting Down Roots Umbilicaria: The Belly Button of the World Old-Growth Children Witness to the Rain Burning Sweetgrass Windigo Footprints The Sacred and the Superfund People of Corn, People of Light Collateral Damage Shkitagen: People of the Seventh Fire Defeating Windigo Epilogue: Returning the Gift
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